Going to Annapolis?

Circulating is now free

By Sandra Olivetti Martin

Going to Annapolis?
Since cars claimed roads designed for horse traffic, parking has made visiting our capital city easier by boat than by car.
Where to put the vehicles that bring the city a million visitors each year has kept city planners scratching their heads.
Over the month of December, free parking and trolley make the city more welcoming, and its shopping and cultural opportunities more accessible. Now the Circulator Trolley makes parking easier every day of the year.
It just got easier to visit your delegates and senators during the three months of the newly convened General Assembly. Easier to enjoy the special offerings of Restaurant Week in February. Easier to see plays at Colonial Players, where Cinderella Waltz continues thru January 21. Easier to do all the town-hopping Bay Weekly brings you.
High ridership won the six-month-old Circulator its continued lease on life. For the Eastport Yacht Club Parade of Lights in December, more than 1,000 people rode the Circulator. For New Years Eve festivities, 4,100 passengers rode. On an average day, 100 passengers ride.
The Circulator is convenient and free, and it’s continuing.
On January 5, Ride Free signs went up on each of the four trolleys that share the 2.1 mile loop from Westgate Circle to just past Memorial Circle at City Dock.
That’s a price riders won’t be able to resist, according to Mayor Josh Cohen.
Until December, rides were free only for drivers with a city garage parking ticket. Now they’re free for all within the central business district. Riders to and from the parking lot at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium will continue to pay $2 per ride.
There’s no need for central business district visitors to park that far afield.
Knighton and Park Place garages, in the western range of the business district, typically have plenty of room, lower prices and Circulator connections.
“They’re priced to encourage use,” said Annapolis Parking Commission member Chance Walgran.
As well as the price, Circulator convenience is right. Fifteen stops, including each of the city’s four parking garages, are now marked with round Circulator signs.
Even better, the Circulator will also stop for you anywhere along its route.
“When you hear the gong, raise your hand and the trolley will pick you up,” said city Transportation Director Richard Newell.
As for waits, yours should never be long. “Ten minutes,” promises Mayor Josh Cohen.
Main Street, Duke of Gloucester and West Street are the Circulator’s main thoroughfares. The State House, legislative complex, Maryland Avenue shopping and St. John’s College are reachable in minutes on foot.
“The Circulator gets people from one end of downtown to the other in a matter of minutes,” says Ward 7 alderman and city Transportation Committee chair Ian Pfeiffer. “And if you park in the city garages, the service offers vehicle protection from the elements by providing temperate, well lit, covered garages, supervised by an attendant.”
The Circulator will also connect you to the Bay which, with its creeks and rivers, were our historic routes for getting places. City Dock is right on the loop.